Manse or Housing Allowance?

In the PC (USA) most churches offer a Manse or housing allowance, some offer only the option of a Manse and some Churchs no longer wanting to maintain a manse have sold it and therefore only offer a housing allowance. I have lived in both situations and both have their good sides and bad. When we we're in the process of looking for our current call I was horrified at some of the Manses I was shown. Our Manse had been well maintained by the church and I foolishly thought all churches did this...how wrong I was.

One Manse was about 150 years old and though HUGE it was beside the church and the church being the same age had over the years paved over the Manse yard to extend their parking lot, not to mention it was actually attached to the church itself. Their previous Pastor had them do no maintenance or improvements the 25 years he had lived there,claiming he didn't want them to "spend the money" there was a good 6 inch gap between the wall and the floor boards where the foundation had shifted. This Pastor did them no favors by not letting- insisting on regular maintenance.
The four upstairs bedrooms had never been used by the minister and were a lead pain nightmare waiting to happen. We were told by the PNC committee that they would be making improvements if we decided to come, well not only did this place need well over 100k in work it would have taken many,many months for it to be done and the thought of living in a construction zone with an infant didn't appeal to us. The area we were looking at had a high cost of living that wasn't reflected in the housing allowance so needless to say we didn't even consider a call there after that meeting.
In my opinion if you are a church PNC member reading this consider that before you even start interviewing people have your Manse ship shape, no matter how wonderful your church is if it looks like you don't keep up the Manse well it reflects poorly on you as a church. Maybe you are offering a choice, if that is so and your next Pastor chooses a housing allowance you should most likely rent out the Manse and so it needs to be well kept regardless!


Housing allowance- This is what we currently have in my opinion at some point you realize that you will one day retire and have no equity in a home if you have been in a Manse all your ministry. The downside to buying is in our denomination you can't put your home up for sale until you have told your church you are leaving 4-6 weeks before you actually leave, so you might be caring house payments for a while after you have moved on to your next call. If you can find good renters renting your house out if you move to another call that offers a Manse is a good option and you are still building equity in a home, now of course this is IF you can find good tenants that pay on time.
The upside if you are a church that hires a Pastor who buys a home chances are hes not planning on leaving anytime soon. Obviously offer enough housing allowance so he can afford a home in the area of the church, keep in mind also he will be paying taxes on this allowance.

Manse- Living in a Manse is an odd situation , your landlords are your congregation and since Deacons cycle through on a 3 year term they are always changing. Most Pastors don't want to ask for a lot of things they somehow that they feel greedy by doing so. Deacons should ask every 6 months for a list of anything that needs done, don't assume the Pastor should just let you know. In my opinion this is what a Deacons board should do in addition to maintenance of the Manse.

1. Provide lawn care and /or snow plowing, no Pastor has time to mow 2 acres of lawn (trust me)
2. Paint the interior every 5 years or more often as needed
3. Paint the interior a neutral color but let the Pastor chose other colors if he wishes
4. Clean carpets once a year - professionally
5. If an appliance is old, even if it works replace it
6. For goodness sakes don't put light color carpet in a house
7. Central Air is nice, if not the church should buy window units for the main living areas and bedrooms.
8. Provide shades or blinds for all windows, a neutral sheer curtain is nice also
9. If you live in a area that has bug problems provide regular pest control
10. Have a policy regarding the Pastor's pets, if hes coming and bring an animal make sure you are willing to accept that it might cause wear and tear to the carpets/yard.

Have a designated person that the minister knows to call if there is an emergency situation with the Manse. In our previous Manse we had the heat stop working and we called the head deacon who was new to the job she had no idea that she would be in charge of such things.
Keep in mind if you are a church providing a Manse it may be more house then some Pastors need but they are paying taxes on 30% of their cash salary so in effect they are most likely saving the church money by choosing to live in it. The downside to a church having a Manse is that the minister can very easily leave for another call, he has no home to sell or notice to give on a lease.